By Mike Green
Over the past two years of grad school, I often sat at my desk learning about the way policy lands in our backyards, just over our fences, and across the public lands that draw many to the West. My office window looked out onto ponderosa pines and blue skies on the best days, wildfire smoke and worry on the worst.
I came to Wilderness Watch looking for an internship after two years of study and journalism. I wanted to sit with people who were on the ground floor of upholding the wilderness protections we have written into law in the U.S. Luckily, the first task of my new role took me to a conference room full of invested individuals and organizations driven by the same ideals.
In late May, I walked into the Healthy Public Lands Conference in Salt Lake City as a reporter-turned-intern—half outsider, half observer. I’d spent years writing about environmental issues, but this was something else. The people in that room weren’t just documenting the fire. They were trying to put it out. The event was hosted by Wilderness Watch, Western Watersheds, and SUWA (Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance), among others, such as High Country News. The topics discussed were far reaching, many times coming back to focus on public land grazing in the American West. With livestock authorized to graze over 25 percent of all acres protected as Wilderness in the lower-48 states, the impacts of grazing in Wilderness are profound.
Talking in the first day, I was intimidated by the wealth of knowledge in the seats of the conference room. But, I could not have arrived in a friendlier room of passion-driven people. Over three days, speakers described a West in crisis: public land agencies under siege, science dismissed, biodiversity declining, and the “myth” of the cowboy used to justify ecological collapse. But also: new coalitions, tribal leadership, and radical hope.
To me, it felt like many of us were coming for answers to the unprecedented actions being taken each day of the new administration. It was relieving to hear others talking about the same trends happening around us—the overnight gutting of federal agencies, privatization of government contracts, and scapegoating of anyone who has devoted their life to environmental protection.
As John Leshy, professor emeritus at University of California and former Solicitor of the Department of the Interior put it in his opening address, the goal isn’t just to sell off public lands anymore—it’s to also hollow out the agencies managing them. To erode science, strip away staff, and fail so spectacularly that privatization looks like the only option left.
The call to action for federal agency reform came quickly on the first day, as the news paints a picture of agencies shifting back to prioritizing industry and away from the growing call for ecological-based management. One panel shared a need for the culture inside federal land agencies to change if they are serious about protecting public lands. As retired Bureau of Land Management (BLM) specialist Dennis Willis put it, “We’re farmers, not stewards”—a reflection of how deeply grazing-first thinking is embedded in agency training and decision-making. Chuck Oliver of the Forest Service echoed this, noting that the agency’s range conservationists are often promoted for appeasing livestock grazing permittees, not for protecting ecosystems.
Drawn to working with Wilderness Watch by my own experiences in Wilderness areas throughout Utah, Montana, and Alaska, I reflected on their histories before my time there. Deep into canyonland or on a remote island in Southeast Alaska, I still found the fingerprints of humans each day. Countless times I stood atop the stumps of trees large enough for my friends to join me, grateful that some areas were too inaccessible to be logged. I felt comradery in the room, like I was surrounded by people who also found answers to life’s questions in wild places. I felt sure there were others who had sought dense forests, open slickrock country, or remote rivers when they were in the depths of grief or in need of celebration.
Sitting in that room, listening to people who’ve spent decades fighting for the land, I felt a shift. It’s one thing to study policy or report on its impacts; it’s another to be surrounded by people who wake up every day and go to battle for what’s left. I realized that protecting Wilderness isn’t just about defending terrain—it’s about defending truth, memory, and agency. The Healthy Public Lands Conference reminded me that this work requires more than knowledge. It requires courage, participation, and relentless care.
That kind of restoration that is needed takes time—and community. Over and over, I heard from panelists that agency reform and ecological protection require more than sound data. They require showing up. Whether it’s showing up to a public meeting, submitting a comment letter, calling a member of Congress, or joining a local campaign, every voice is needed.
For those looking to get involved, groups like Wilderness Watch offer clear avenues to take part—whether that means responding to action alerts, attending a public lands hearing or a politicians’ town hall, or amplifying stories of public land and wilderness defense in your community by writing a letter to the editor or hosting a wilderness-focused gathering of friends. Western Watersheds has also created an app called Cow Pie Pal for reporting degradation and improper grazing practices on public lands, including in Wilderness. The app is aimed at collecting photos of the effects to help make a case against the negative impacts of livestock grazing.
As my summer moves along, I will continue working on other projects for Wilderness Watch, while learning everything I can alongside the people who work here. Up next, I am writing fact sheets for congress on livestock grazing in Wilderness areas. I look forward to reflecting on all I learn here as I spend my summer months immersed in the wild places that have drawn me to this work.
Mike Green joined Wilderness Watch as a communications intern in the summer of 2025. After more than a decade guiding in wild places across the Lower 48 and Alaska, he returned to school to study Environmental Journalism at the University of Montana. As a writer and photographer, Mike is drawn to human-centered stories that reveal how policy shapes people and the landscapes they depend on. His work focuses on public land policy and Native American natural resource law, with a goal of making complex issues accessible and relevant. When he’s not at his desk, you’ll likely find him on a bike, in a canoe, or wandering the forests of Western Montana with his two dogs, Margie and Lupin.
Wilderness Watch’s policy director, Dana Johnson, speaks during a legal breakout session at the Healthy Public Lands Conference; while Wilderness Watch’s executive director, George Nickas, asks a question during the conference. All conference photos by Adam Bronstein.
51 Comments
Defend and protect the wild places please. Keep them clean and pristine as they are meant to be.
please prioritize ecological based management ,
thank you !
The call to action for federal agency reform came quickly on the first day, as the news paints a picture of agencies shifting back to prioritizing industry and away from the growing call for ecological-based management. One panel shared a need for the culture inside federal land agencies to change if they are serious about protecting public lands. As retired Bureau of Land Management (BLM) specialist Dennis Willis put it, “We’re farmers, not stewards”—a reflection of how deeply grazing-first thinking is embedded in agency training and decision-making. Chuck Oliver of the Forest Service echoed this, noting that the agency’s range conservationists are often promoted for appeasing livestock grazing permittees, not for protecting ecosystems.
🌎Protecting the planet protects all living beings~ human and otherwise it’s a win/win we must champion! Saving our precious lands is integral to meet that essential goal. 💫
Once it’s gone, it’s gone forever. We must protect our land!
Once our public lands are handed over to fossil fuels companies those lands are not for the public anymore. All of the wild creatures and plants and trees are torn down and destroyed. The animals either find a new place to live or die. Protecting and cherishing these public lands is irrevocable and I see no ther way the save public lands.
We need to take better care of what is left of our environment, for wildlife, marine life, plant life, and people.
Interesting! Informative!
Wilderness! We need it!
Interesting article, Please be aware that regenerative agriculture through responsible animal husbandry (which involves using livestock to rotate through grazing lands and therefore mimic nature) has led to some wonderful greening of formerly barren lands, This has happened in parts of Africa, India, Texas, and other places
We need to protect our land and environment!
Keep lands public. Protect the wilderness
Public lands must be protected from the damaging impacts of livestock grazing.
Animal agriculture is one of the most violent and destructive industries on the planet. Besides causing suffering on a monstrous scale, it is responsible for creating more green house gases than all forms of transportation combined, environmental degradation, habitat and species loss, fresh water waste and pollution, ocean acidification and dead zones, has negative human health impacts, is creating antibiotic resistant microbes and checks off all of the boxes for the conditions that could/will lead to the next pandemic. We must transition to a compassionate, efficient, sustainable and healthy plant-based food system and re-wild much of the land stolen from the wild animal nations.
Spot on Debbie! Unfortunately, very few of us realize and prioritize this. At the very least, humans should stop eating beef, the most environmentally and ecologically destructive food there is.
We need to protect the wild!
Thanks Mike,
Informative article and yes way too much grazing on public lands. We will try to document over grazing on future trips.
Ralph
ANY grazing on public land is too much. In fact, cattle should be restricted to marshy areas in ecosystems that are not arid or semi-arid, even on private land. The concept of land ownership is strictly a human one and has no basis in the natural world.
OUR lands or what we have left of them should be treated as HOLY since they have become so scarce. Mankind goes through everything with GREED and leaves nothing but dying and DEATH behind. Mother Earth CAN’T compete! To those who are blind to it all just LOOK around you.. OPEN YOUR EYES, WHAT DO YOU SEE? TAKE A DEEP BREATH… WHAT IS THAT TASTE? BREATH IN THROUGH YOUR NOSE SLOWLY… WHAT IS THAT SMELL? STAND STILL AND JUST LISTEN… DO YOU HEAR ANYTHING OF NATURE? WHEREVER YOU ARE STICK YOUR HANDS OUT AND TOUCH EVERYTHING AROUND YOU…… THERE IS NO NATURE THERE…….WHY???????? WE KILLED IT ALL !
Keep Public Lands out of politics and out of the MLS.
Keep our roadless areas free of roads and stop the controlled burns!!
Please protect our public lands. They are critical for the health of our ecosystem.
We must protect our lands and all their life. We have so much to learn and understand. As a Choctaw, we teach our children the raccoon dance so that they learn to play and get along from Mother Nature. it’s beautiful rather than fear mongering and destruction.
Keep public lands public. Ranchers should have enough of there own land to support there herds – if not, there mismanaging there business.
Mr. Green, what a true blessing it is you are to what is real, what matters, what careless idiots are trying to destroy , forever. You are so right about every statement you made. Trump is destroying all the people that are supposed to stand up for our beautiful lands, rivers, streams, forests…and animals. Just remove all their jobs… make it all defenseless… and BAM…Take over. A cowardly mission of Destroy Destroy Destroy…. Nothing matters but his oil and gas friends and their damn bank accounts. Animals lives… their only forever homes are totally meaningless to this barbarian we have as our president. We will fight… we will NOT stop. He will NOT win. Never stop what you are doing and always fight for what is right. Our once great beloved planet depends on it. Trump is exactly like Hitler ..the evil man that he PRAISED and said did some good things. A dictator from hell. Both of them.
Unfortunately, the killing and destruction started way before Trump. He’s just a symptom of the problem. Yes, he’s great at making bad situations worse, but they were bad to begin with, and that’s where our focus needs to be.
Preserve our precious wilderness!!
Protect our lands! Do the right thing for all of us! Thank you!
Thank you..we need to protect ALL wildlife!
All right, kick some a@& dude!
I’ve been saying for far to long that the cattle industry has held too much power in utilizing our public lands for pennies on the dollar to line their pockets. It’s about time we hold them accountable and kick them and their cattle off our public lands and mitigate the damage caused.
Thank you for all your work‼️
More than ever, we need to protect the environment and wildlife.
The livestock interests obviously left their puny brains
back in the barbaric 19th Century and the
Buffoons of Land Mismanagement have become a corrupt
government agency, licking the boots of their Führer,
Donald Trump, and his fascist mafia!!
And therefore, I think the agency itself
should be dissolved, so we can create a new entity that
it truly committed to being good stewards of
our Mother Earth and all the sacred wonders of
Nature, the Creator made for all to behold
with awe and wonder, and to learn to walk in beauty
in Great Spirit’s creation together!!
Our public lands and waters are sacred places
that belong to the American and Indigenous people
(and the Creator), not a handful of filthy-rich fat-cat
bureaucrats and greedy special interest lobbyists!!
THIS IS A NO BRAINER, SAME THING GOES FOR CRYPTO AND A.I. BOTH CONSUME TOO MUCH ENERGY AND PRECIOUS RESOURCES THAT WOULD BE BETTER UTILIZED ELSEWHERE, RES IPSA LOQUITUR, LONG OVERDUE, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
We need to protect the environment and wildlife.
Thanks for everything you’re doing, Mike. Your efforts are needed now more than ever. When I see an alert from Wilderness Watch, I always reply.
Thank you Mike. Good to know there are people like you looking out for our wild spaces. Gives me some hope.
Nice job! Keep investing your time and energy into the necessary work needed to defeat the seemingly endless contributions of BIG OIL, BIG AGRICULTURE, and BIG MONEY for their profit at the expense of OUR environment.
Public lands are supposed to be for the public not livestock grazing which ruins the public lands with all the manure. We need to take back our public lands and quit letting cattle graze on our land! We also need to protect our public lands from clear cutting all the beautiful trees because they are ours not the farmers who have been taking advantage of our wilderness areas for way too long. The wilderness belongs to all the people, not just a few that have taken advantage of the idea that they own the land, they do not! We the people own the wilderness and we want to keep it wild. So it’s time to get the cattle grazing out of the wilderness. And it’s time to stop clear cutting our wilderness areas for the logging industry and let the wild animals be free and wild, which they deserve! We the people deserve better than this nonsense and we will keep fighting for our public lands and our wild animals because we deserve the right to protect them from the evils keep ruining our earth!!!
Life isn’t all about meat. I like a good steak myself, but come on. Variety is the spice of life.
LEAVE MOTHER NATURE ALONE if you cant PROTECT HER!!!
Destroying the natural world is basically destroying us too!!
The people who want to do this are idiots! No good can come of it.
As someone only marginally involved in environmental protection, I feel there is value in simply observing – keeping an eye on things. A functional channel for collecting and analyzing people’s observations would be useful. Let’s not forget that the entire world’s ecosystem would be healthiest as wilderness. Focusing only on designated wilderness areas seems to be missing the big picture.
Pls protect public lands!
Why do the very people that support Public Lands continue to vote (Republican/Conservative) for the people who wish to sell it all off for profit and human dwellings?
Wonderful and enlightening article! Thanks to you and all your cohorts for doing what you do. Stay strong! Congress is always full of idiots but this administration is beyond the pale. I will continue to fight for public lands w my voice and my wallet. Thank you, Mike and Wilderness Watch for standing up.
Please protect public lands from the damaging impact of livestock grazing.
Good statement
Love the article. Keep fighting for our Wilderness areas! It makes my heart happy to read about people who care about wilderness areas and are willing to do something about it. Good work!
Thank you for the ‘radical hope’ Mike. And for your endeavors and courage to begin this journey now.
I agree with everything you said and strongly oppose actions by the administration to intrude in our wilderness areas.
As a country we need to put a stop to destroying what we have left. It’s time to move on from the mindset of extraction and into a new era of innovative methods for obtaining energy development of new technologies.
Las mismas tendencias que nos rodean: el desmantelamiento repentino de las agencias federales, la privatización de los contratos gubernamentales y la búsqueda de chivos expiatorios de cualquiera que haya dedicado su vida a la protección del medio ambiente.
El objetivo ya no es solo vender terrenos públicos, sino también vaciar de recursos a las agencias que los gestionan. Debilitar la ciencia, despojar de personal y fracasar tan estrepitosamente que la privatización parezca la única opción.